Remember The Undersea Cables That Were Being Cut ?

Remember The Undersea Cables That Were Being Cut ? - Iraqi Ship Held, 2 Arrested

The UAE authorities have released one of the two ships allegedly responsible for causing damage to an undersea cable network of Flag Telecom that had resulted in disruption of Internet services across India for two weeks.

The ship was released after a Korean shipping company, which owns it, paid huge compensation to Flag Telecom, a subsidiary of Reliance Globalcom, as damage, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The two ships — MV Hounslow and MT Ann — were impounded on February 19 when they reached Dubai shores for allegedly damaging the cable network in February.

The action was taken after Reliance Globalcom provided details of the ships by studying the satellite images of the ship movements around the area of undersea cable damage off the northern coast of Egypt and the UAE.

Abdul Jaleel Mahdi, Deputy Director of CID of Dubai Police, told the daily that one of the impounded ships, belonging to a Korean shipping company, was released after payment of huge compensation to Flag Telecom.

During police interrogation, an official of the Korean ship admitted that the vessel was passing through the area and agreed to pay USD 60,000 as damages, the report said.

The second ship, which belongs to an Iraqi company, is still in the custody of Dubai Police and the Coast Guards, a police source was quoted as saying by the daily.

The two sailors who were on board the vessel were arrested and would be referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution next week, it said.